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  1. Today, we got the cover for the third Stormlight novel, Oathbringer. It's also by Michael Whelan, featuring Jasnah being totally awesome. This scene is quite evocative, so maybe you can glean some plot details from this. We also get the scheduled release date for the book, and an Oathbringer update on Reddit. Here's the cover: Whelan describes the scene in the Tor.com article: "We’re centered on a scene where Jasnah confronts the invaders. A giant has smashed a breach in the city wall, and Jasnah is called upon to restore it. After dispatching several invaders with her Shardblade sword, she covers the gap with a brassy wall of magical metal. It’s a very visual scene, in which I saw a lot of possibilities for good images." I will say that the expanded cover looks quite a bit cooler than the zoomed in part on the front cover: So we see Jasnah with her Shardblade (uh... spoilers if you haven't read Words of Radiance?). There's a city under attack, and in the background we see a number of cool things. First, we see a lot of red lightning, probably the Everstorm. I would rate the situation as being "quite bad" by the looks of it. Then there's a giant thing in the breach. People on forums suggest its a thunderclast, and that seems like a reasonable assumption. If you look closely, Jasnah isn't actually floating , but is on some stairs of glass, probably Soulcast. On Tor.com you can see more of Whelan's sketches of this scene and how it proceeded. What do you think of the cover? What city do you think it is? Tell us all your thoughts. We also get a release date: November 14th, 2017. Astute readers already knew this from Amazon, but we wanted to wait to a more official source. Tor says that is when it is scheduled, so that isn't definitive, but it seems quite likely. One more bit of Oathbringer news: Brandon posted another Stormlight update on Reddit. Oathbringer 3.0 was finished, incorporating feedback from Team Sanderson and Tor, and he recently wrote the epigraphs and epilogue. The length of the book is insane, at 514,000 words, which is 100,000 longer than Words of Radiance. (Hey, remember at Way of Kings' release when Brandon said the future books would be shorter? Hahahahaha.) I expect revisions might cut this down a bit, but it's still huge. Brandon says the US hardcover release will be in one single volume, but for the paperback, there may be two volumes released at the same time. That's about it, though Brandon does finish with: Comment below on this exciting Oathbringer news, or discuss the cover on the forums, too!
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  2. http://www.tor.com/2017/03/16/revealing-the-cover-to-oathbringer-the-third-book-in-brandon-sandersons-stormlight-archive/
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  3. Let's focus on Rothfuss releasing a Rothfuss novel lol.
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  4. My windows throw friends out them.
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  5. Woooo the Oathbringer cover is out. http://www.tor.com/2017/03/16/revealing-the-cover-to-oathbringer-the-third-book-in-brandon-sandersons-stormlight-archive/ Hmm the giants seem to be thunderclasts, and looks like a big void-war is going on. wow.
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  6. Get on the Hype Train guys.... Cover reveal and completed % bar on the same day. I must be dreaming...
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  7. LG31: Day Three - Aftermath The nobles stared at each other. The Lord Ruler, Sliver of Immortality, lay fallen on the cold steel floor, forever. How they’d managed to kill him, no one was even quite sure. Jack had done something - pulled, somehow, the bands from his shoulders, and the Lord Ruler had withered within minutes. Everyone had suspected him, yes. Everyone accused him. Lord Tekiel, Neer, Alrin, Lady Mater, all called him skaa to his face, and he did not strike them down. He had seemed almost… tired. No one noticed Remart’s smile. Everyone did notice what Jack had done, though. No one had expected the Lord Ruler to actually die. Lord Alrin stepped forward. “You… you killed the Lord Ruler.” “Yes,” Jack said defiantly. “Didn’t we all say he was skaa? Didn’t he deserve it?” “I… no.” Alrin shook his head, stepping further out of the cluster of shocked nobles so that he had a clear line of sight to the man. “He was our God. Weren’t you raised to believe that?” “He was skaa! He had to die. Don’t you see that?” “No. He didn’t. And you just murdered the person who has ruled us for a millennium now.” Alrin raised his hands, burning steel. There were plenty of bits of metal left in the room from the earlier fight. They shot out from him, towards Jack. Jack smiled. “If that’s how this must be.” He gestured himself, pushing back on those bits of metal and gathering new ones to him until he was enclosed in a vortex of swirling metal, sending it at Alrin like an unstoppable storm. So Alrin Pushed back, and both were thrown against the walls of the chamber. The outermost coins fell away, leaving only a few in the middle to be flattened. Whoever he was, Jack was strong. Stronger, perhaps, than Alrin. Sooner or later, someone’s steel would give out, or someone would come to aid one or the other. Alrin, fortunately, had a few tricks up his sleeve. He was no Mistborn, but he’d taken the liberty of procuring a couple of those glass daggers anyway. Quietly, he reached his hand behind his back, grabbing one out of its sheath. He weighed the distance, nodded, and deliberately lost focus with his Steelpush, just a little bit. Just enough to make Jack cry out in victory. Just enough to distract him. Alrin threw, and his aim was true. The knife took Jack in the neck. He saw it coming, but was too late - and couldn’t have dodged anyway, not without releasing his own Push and dooming himself to death by tiny spikes. Strangely, the Push didn’t stop, even as Jack slumped to the floor. Coins and bits of metal hung in the air between Alrin and Jack, still. Carefully, Alrin took a piece of metal from his pocket and flicked it to the side, Pushing himself out of the way of the coins and letting them fall against the wall where he had been, harmlessly. Carefully, he and the other nobles advanced towards the fallen Jack. His eyes fluttered open. “You shall not kill me,” he said, managing to speak despite the gaping cut in his throat. “Even the Lord Ruler could not kill me. Why would a bunch of petty nobles be able to?” “Skaa,” Neer spat. “The Lord Ruler was never skaa, was he? You just wanted an excuse.” “More than that,” Lord Tekiel said. “I knew Jack, once. He was no skaa then. This is…” the corners of his mouth turned downwards in disdain. “A replacement, shall we say?” Jack smiled. “You cannot kill me,” he said mockingly, “for I am hope.” Alrin stepped forward. How to kill a kandra… They probably couldn’t without acid, of which there was none in the room. For now, though, severe incapacitation would do. He picked up a few coins from the floor. Jack watched him, of course. So, when Alrin threw the coins at Jack, Alrin simply stepped out of the way of Jack’s Push and brought the other glass dagger down, cleanly beheading him. Then he gasped. He hadn’t quite been fast enough, or perhaps Jack had had one more coin left in waiting. He doubled over from the pain of the coin shot through his stomach. His vision faded, slowly. He was alright with that. His duty had been done. The rest of the nobles looked around at each other nervously, again. Who would be next to go? Jack wasn’t the last skaa, they knew. Who, then? The Great Lord Mister King Count General Doctor President Sir William VII looked around, trying to spot some trace of evidence on the faces of those around him. Most were gasping in shock at Alrin’s sudden death, or staring in disdain at Jack. One, however, was not. Boris looked at Alrin with a small smile - so slight that had The Great Lord Mister King Count General Doctor President Sir William VII not been burning tin, he doubted he would’ve noticed. “Lord Boris,” he said politely, with a slight edge. “Why are you smiling?” “What?” Boris said defensively. “I’m not smiling! Why would I be smiling?” “Perhaps because you’re skaa, and perhaps even Jack’s master?” Neer suggested. “Pssh. I am a noble, just like the rest of you.” The Great Lord Mister King Count General Doctor President Sir William VII was watching. Boris’ breathing sped up. He was afraid. “No, Boris. You aren’t. You’re skaa.” Boris shook his head again. “I’m not skaa! Whyever would you think that?” Kelsier hadn’t said much this game. He was new to the court, and a man of few words, they’d learned. He cut to the chase. “You’re skaa. Die.” He drew a dagger and stabbed Boris through the heart. (The Great Lord Mister King Count General Doctor President Sir William VII, with his tin flared as it was, couldn’t help but notice the reactions - Neer was grimly satisfied, Lord Locke looked ready to faint in horror that a splatter of blood had gotten on his pristine suit, Remart was very nearly… bored?) Boris glared, the mask falling away to reveal the hatred beneath. He threw himself not at his killer, but at The Great Lord Mister King Count General Doctor President Sir William VII. The one who had revealed him. “Die, noble scum.” They couldn’t pull him off in time. When the chaos subsided, four bodies lay beside the Lord Ruler. The nobles looked at each other in silence. It was done, they knew. Jack had been the skaa’s trump card. Without him, the organization would collapse. So long as they could stop the Final Empire from collapsing with it… Remart smiled. Preservation had been maddeningly elusive, but even so. The Lord Ruler was dead. Now, there was nothing to stop his ascension. All was going according to plan. Arinian was killed! He was a Noble Steel Misting! Joe was killed! He was Kelsier and a Kandra! Len was killed! He was a Skaa Bronze Misting! Drought was killed! He was a Tin Misting, Kandra, and Part Skaa! The Nobles win! LG31 has ended. Well done, everyone, and (many) GM thoughts will be up in a day or two. Docs Spec/Dead Doc Evil Doc Ruin Doc Spreadsheet Player List
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  8. Night 1: The Nature of Reality "That's it?" Wurum shrugged at him. "What more do you want?" "Well," Khas said, sighing theatrically, "You started with this tale of mob justice or whatever, and then... Where was the payoff?" he asked, pouring himself a little more of the wine. "It was the dullest start to a story I've ever heard." "Be that as it may," Wurum replied narrowly, "that is what happened. I can't tell you why the events unfolded as they did. Some might consider it a good thing that they didn't immediately go around slaughtering each other. But remember, this was only the start of things. You asked what happened, and I am telling you." "Yes, but you could have spiced it up a little, rather than making it as bland as soulcast stuff," Khas insisted. "At least that way your audience wouldn't be in danger of falling asleep where they sit." "I can tell you an exciting, fake story or I can tell you a duller, real story," Wurum said. "Which would you rather?" "What sort of choice is that?" Khas shook his head. "Why does reality have to be boring? I reject any sort of notion of a world like that." "Fine. I can tell you that Revali was run out of town on the back of a horse he stole. Or that Brandir Sebarial escaped execution by the skin of his teeth due to his connections to the Alethi nobility. Or perhaps that Bart got involved with a deadly duel on the rooftops with Harvey, only ending in a stalemate when they fell off the roof into the main street. Would this be more palatable?" "Well, it's a good start," Khas nodded. "Sorry, but I won't," Wurum cut his hopes off. "I am the storyteller, and therefore I get to choose how the story goes. I choose for it to be real and honest and factual. If you want some falsified tale, go and learn to read or find a woman to read fiction to you. Far as I'm concerned, the world is strange and dark enough these days without making it moreso." "Fine," Khas sighed. "Then you leave me no choice." He waved a hand at Wurum and then took a small sip of his wine. "Continue then, sir. Tell the story how it should be told." "Good." Wurum poured himself another glass. His hands were starting to shake just a little. "This part will probably interest you more - You see, while the day might have been fairly dull in your most esteemed opinion, that night was more interesting, for there was an attack..." No-one was lynched! TheMightyLopen/Revali (1): Drake Marshall/Mestow Elenion/Brandir Sebarial (1): Bartimaeus/Bart Bartimaeus/Bart (1): Elenion/Brandir Sebarial Hemalurgic_Headshot/Harvey (1): TheMightyLopen/Revali Night players may now post in this thread until the end of the Night Turn, which will be at 10PM GMT on Friday.. There is a Messenger alive; Night players may PM each other until the end of the Night Turn.. Notemos Town Hall Clock Player List
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  9. All hail Michael Whelan. He is the Radiance of the Words, the King of our Ways, the Light of our Memory, and the Bringer of our Oaths. The Captains Domon salute you.
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  10. I suppose I must learn to... Never judge a cover by its canonicity
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  12. She'd probably be ecstatic to meet an intellectual equal who doesn't see her as a romantic interest, imo
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  13. This seems to be a class of thunderclast https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/5zqsbv/stormlight_archives_3_oathbringer_cover_art_reveal/df0d9rd/ . I guess the question is does the size and type of thunderclast depend on the type of spren?
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  14. This post speculates about magic on the Major Shardworlds before the Shattering. I think pre-Shattering magic gives insight into post-Shattering magic. I exclude Scadrial because it didn’t exist pre-Shattering. Based on the following WoB, I believe the planets that became Shardworlds each incorporate “magic aspects to the setting” that allows mortals to “interact with nature.” Pre-Shattering, there were no “people with magic” like Mistborn and Surgebinders who could direct the magic’s effect. Brandon thus confirms that Adonalsium’s Investiture is on every planet except Scadrial. Because this Investiture is “inherent,” it remains on each planet even after the Shattering. I believe Adonalsium’s Investiture is encoded into its planet’s Spiritual DNA, part of its soul just like the planet’s mountains and oceans are. Shards later Invested to change these planets into Major Shardworlds. I theorize they Invested in the part of the planet that I believe already held Adonalsium’s Investiture: Roshar’s highstorms, Taldain’s oceans, Nalthis’ electromagnetic radiation, and Sel’s ground. I discuss each Major Shardworld’s pre-Shattering magic separately below. I think Adonalsium’s pre-existing magic constrained what the Shards could do. The Surgebinding and Fabrial magic systems, for example, are built atop Adonalsium’s pre-existing spren-based magic. IMO, this is what Brandon means when he says that magic systems result from the “interaction” of a Shard with its Shardworld – the Shards adapted their magic systems to their Shardworld as they found it. Adonalsium’s effects permeate the cosmere. I believe we can deduce many of the elements of each Major Shardworld’s pre-Shattering magic by looking at the Shardworld’s current magic and applying a retrograde analysis – what are the Shards’ magic systems built on? ROSHAR – Highstorm-Invested Magic Roshar’s pre-Shattering “interaction with magic” system is spren-based. Khriss describes current Rosharan magic as “an expansion” of pre-Shattering magic (AU, Kindle, p. 535): Stormlight. I believe Adonalsium created and Invested Roshar’s highstorms. When Brandon says the highstorms began as “natural” meteorological events, I think he means Adonalsium’s Investiture of the highstorms is “natural.” Everything Adonalsium created is “natural” – meaning “in its original state.” I think Stormlight began solely as Adonalsium’s Investiture. Though Honor later added his Investiture to the highstorms (IMO), I believe Stormlight continues to hold Adonalsium’s Investiture. The pre-Shattering spren types still appear on Roshar. “Stormlight is essential to the ecosystem of Roshar.” Stormlight “makes plants grow.” Native lifeforms could not exist without Stormlight. Many like the listeners and greatshells change form through spren symbiosis. Stormlight evaporates and disperses quickly. Brandon says that’s by design – part of Roshar’s natural ecosystem. He cites the amount of “free” Investiture on Roshar. Realmic Compression. Because Roshar is “heavily Invested,” Brandon says the Realms “compress” there. Bits of Spiritual Realm Investiture “leak” into the Cognitive Realm as splinters, meaning they become self-aware. These splinters in turn “leak” into the Physical Realm. Eshonai confirms such transformations occur during highstorms, when the listener’s “Rider of Storms” (later the humans’ Stormfather) appears. For this reason, I theorize Realmic compression precedes Honor’s Investiture of the highstorms. Personification. Brandon’s above quote states that “minor spren…like lifespren” can exist on a world like pre-Shattering Roshar. IMO this statement confirms the listeners, the Aimians, and other native sapient beings personified natural phenomena before humans arrived, ascribing their own thoughts and feelings to such elements. Lifespren and other “minor spren” are the result. Thought Becomes Reality. I theorize Realmic compression, personification and the availability of “free Investiture” cause Cognitive Realm splinters to become spren and gain access to the Physical Realm. Jasnah says spren are thought made living reality – “living ideas.” I believe the “touch and design” of this system was already in place when the Shards arrived. TALDAIN – Ocean-Invested Magic I theorize Adonalsium placed his Investiture in Taldain’s oceans. Darkside has magic, but it’s “not nearly as explosive and obvious as the magic on Dayside” where “most of the Investiture [is]…but there is some stuff going on [in Darkside].” We haven’t seen Darkside’s magic, so it’s difficult to speculate about it. Hints of Adonalsium’s Investiture come from an examination of Dayside’s magic. 1. Sand Masters’ dehydrate to perform their magic. I believe their body’s water is Sand Mastery’s Catalyst, the consumed substance that causes Autonomy’s power to Invest the Sand Master. Khriss’ Sand Mastery description IMO confirms this (AU, Taldain Essay, Kindle p. 369): 2. Brandon says, “white sand can be charged in the presence of any Investiture…But it's not really using the magic, it’s just charging it with other Investiture (at [58:20]).” This statement, together with Khriss’, IMO confirms Sand Mastery (the “magic”) configures the sand at the Sand Master’s direction. But “white sand can be charged” with any Investiture, since that part of Sand Mastery is “not really using the magic.” The magic happens when Sand Masters use “the water from their own bodies…to control the sand” – drawing power “directly from the Spiritual Realm.” The pattern of other Major Shardworlds suggests if a Sand Master’s body water is Sand Mastery’s Catalyst, then that water holds Adonalsium’s Investiture. 3. Brandon adds in the cited WoB that “it would be very easy…to use Breath to fuel...Windrunning right? Because the oath and the bond and things like that make it pretty easy.” I interpret this statement to refer to a Returned’s bond with its Divine Breath, like Vasher’s. Each Returned represents a human ideal, like Lightsong “the Brave.” A Returned whose ideal is “Protection” (a Windrunner’s Primary Divine Attribute) might be able to use Breath to Windrun. That’s the “oath” part. I also think Brandon means the bond between a Returned and its Divine Breath and a Windrunner’s Nahel bond are similar. Both bonds allow mortals to process gaseous Investiture like Breath and Stormlight. The SLA Ars Arcana says that the “body focus” for Windrunners is “Inhalation,” though Khriss cautions us not to rely on “body focuses.” 4. Brandon elsewhere says “Roshar is really the easiest place in the cosmere for [Vasher] to consistently get [Breath]. Taldain would not be bad either...” [Emphasis added.] IMO, Vasher could only get “easy” Breath equivalents on Taldain if he could absorb Taldain’s Investiture like he does Breath and Stormlight – through his lungs. That suggests there’s Invested water vapor on Taldain. 5. I theorize Adonalsium Invested Taldain’s oceans. When the sun “beats down” on Dayside, it causes the water, and Adonalsium’s Investiture, to evaporate and enter the atmosphere. From there, the natural Water Cycle (Evaporation-Condensation-Precipitation, etc.) circulates that Investiture through the ecosystem and into human lungs and stomachs. “Certain people” can then use that water to control the lichen’s reactions. NALTHIS – Electromagnetic Radiation-Invested Magic I theorize Nalthis’ electromagnetic radiation holds Adonalsium’s Investiture. Endowment later Invested Nalthis’ electromagnetic spectrum and the precursor to Breath. I believe before Endowment’s Investiture of Nalthis, each Nalthian’s innate Investiture consisted of a single photon attached to their soul, a quantum of electromagnetic radiation. IMO, Endowment’s Investiture added its “life-giving” Mandate to that photon – the “Bio” in “BioChromatic” Breath. 1. Starting point: IMO simple Breath transfer to other people and objects doesn’t need Endowment’s power like Awakening does. Unlike Awakening, which IMO drains the Invested EMR that colored objects absorb, simple Breath transfer is end-neutral. A command and physical contact with the recipient suffices. That suggests the mechanism for Breath transfer pre-exists the Shattering. 2. I believe one Breath equals a quantum of Endowment’s Investiture, its smallest usable fragment. Souls “Heighten” as they accumulate more quanta of Breaths. The Heightenings are a “quantization” of Breaths – a “continuous set of values” (because of Breath variability) turned into a discrete set of values. This suggests a magic system related to quantum physics. 3. A photon is a quantum of light, the smallest usable unit of electromagnetic radiation. I believe Breath is a quantum of Endowment’s Investiture because Endowment Invests a quantum of Adonalsium’s Investiture – the photon attached to each person’s soul. 4. I theorize those photons are responsible for Breath transfer. Physical touching is necessary to close the “circuit” between the transferor and recipient of the Breaths. Breaths are unique among Investitures in that they automatically adjust to the Breath holder’s Identity even if the Breathholder isn’t from Nalthis. I speculate this ability relates to the Invested photon at Breath’s core. Photons are a cosmere-wide phenomenon and (presumably) everywhere the same. Movement of photons from person-to-person appears to be the “ambient magic” underlying Breath transfer. 5. I theorize Endowment Invests the Tears of Edgli, vivifying the flowers’ color, to mark the colored object as a source of Investiture. Color is reflected light, but an object absorbs the unreflected electromagnetic radiation. Draining “color” from an object to Awaken leaves the object looking gray (or white for the God Kings). I believe this happens because the Awakener has drained the object of Investiture. The color resembles the effects of a Shardblade slicing a human limb. IOW, I think Endowment vivified the Tears with saturated color both to mark them as repositories of Investiture and to restrict the reflected EMR (color) to a narrow spectrum. That leaves most of the Invested EMR available as Awakening’s Catalyst. SEL – Ground-Invested Magic I theorize Sel’s location-based magic grows from Adonalsium’s pre-Shattering ground-based magic. Just as Honor later Invested Roshar’s highstorms and Autonomy Invested Taldain’s oceans, I believe Dominion and Devotion later added their Investiture to Sel’s ground to create the one “Dor” magic system. Evidence Text. The main evidence is where the Shards chose to Invest. The Shards created Sel’s “one” magic system by using topographic features as their programmatic forms – features rooted in Sel’s ground. I also point to Raoden’s completion of Aon Rao. As a Reod Elantrian, Raoden couldn’t draw any lasting Aons. Yet he could draw the chasm line to complete this Aon with a stick. I believe the ground contains the Investiture that “catalyzed” Aon Rao, infusing Elantris and Elantrians with the Dor. Otherwise, Raoden could simply have drawn a correctly shaped Aon Rao in the air with the same effect. IMO, the now Dor-infused, “mostly Spiritual” Elantrians can draw other Aons without further catalysis. The ground continues to catalyze Aon Rao, which continues to Dor-infuse Elantris so long as Aon Rao retains its shape. Other textual evidence: Derethi prophesy Jaddeth will awake from his slumber “in the earth.” Uncontrolled Dor caused the chasm explosion. Arelenes use the phrase “Domi below.” Forgery soulstones are rocks. The only better soulstamp material is crystal. Khriss (in AU, “Sel Essay,” Kindle, p 18) says This sounds like the ground is becoming the equivalent of a giant spren. Beware of Mother Sel…. Selish Lifeforms Absorb the Dor. I believe Sel’s ground Investiture acts like the Patji’s Eye ecosystem on First of the Sun. The Eye leaches Investiture into the ground. Patji’s Fingers absorb the Investiture through their root systems. Parasitic worms consume the Investiture in the Fingers’ fruit. Aviar eat the worms…. I think Sel’s ground Investiture likewise leaches into the soil and become part of the food chain. Sel’s lifeforms absorb this Investiture. As Khriss says above, “every being on Sel has some Spiritual connection to the Dor and Investiture.” (Note “being,” not “person.”) IMO Khriss describes the bones of Adonalsium’s “interaction with nature” system, the “magic aspects to [that system’s] setting.” I believe Selish magic users consume the absorbed ground Investiture as the Catalyst for their Magic. Shai uses squid ink for her soulstamps. The Bloodsealer uses Shai’s blood. Dakhor monks transform their bones. As stated, I believe Raoden’s completion of Aon Rao relied on Sel’s ground Investiture, opening the pathway for the Dor to infuse Elantris and Elantrians. Motion. Sel’s magic systems seem to require motion for activation. Sel’s Catalytic” magic systems rely on motion plus strict programmatic forms. Shai and the Bloodsealer twist their Investiture-infused stamps a half-turn to make them “take.” AonDor needs the movement of drawing Aons as much as the strict form itself: an imprecisely drawn Aon still pulls in the Dor, just imprecisely, as we see with Dilaf’s wife. I think Sel’s non-Catalytic systems use only motion: “ChayShan focuses on speeding up the motions and gaining power from them.”
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  15. Uhh, if you look closely, Jasnah is floating. Neither of her feet is on a step...
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  16. Could this just be an artistic representation of Jasnah being partially in the cognitive realm and partially in the physical? The stairs exist in the physical but don't exist as such in the cognitive or vice versa?
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  17. ARINIAN Arinian's first post was the 25th in the game, approximately 17 hours after the write up was posted. The only thing he really comments on is Orlok's vote on Len (which occurred 16 posts earlier / nearly twelve hours before Arinian's post) due to Len's suggestion of a strict contribution crusade. Arinian agrees with Orlok's perspective on the Contribution Crusade, but says that many players advocate lynching inactives / utilize poke votes on the first day of most games, so he doesn't think it says anything about Len's alignment. My first thought when looking at this post is how odd the timing is. Why did it take so long for Arinian to post it, considering that it only addressed one post of 24? To be fair, it's not like I haven't gone a long time without checking a LG, depending on how I feel or what I'm doing, however 17 hours is a lot of time, considering that the average person sleeps for 6 and work for 8. It depends a lot on his time zone and his life style, but it's possible Arinian could have been distracted with a doc. It's also possible that this was an indirect defense for Elenion, or perhaps another player who was acting similar, in addition to a specific distancing attempt with Orlok. Conspiracy theories aside, my read of tone this post is genuine. I could see Arinian just trying to be a reasonable Noble, especially since I also was of the opinion that the vote on Len, then, was unnecessary. Arinian's second and third posts purely RP. His fourth post was the first time he participated in any discussion since his first (16 hours later), and it came only after I pinged every player in the game asking their opinions on Phattemer and those who were voting for him. He said he usually doubts suspicious actions mean a player is evil, so that while Phatt said a couple things that sound suspicious, he's seen similar mistakes from other players. He references the Spy game when I lynched Stick alongside him because I thought it was weird that she voted on an eliminator the same turn he died of inactivity (spoiler alert: Stick wasn't an eliminator) but he voted on Phatt because he had no other leads. Also said he was suspicious of Stick (but he always says that). While I'm always happy to see players RP, 16 hours, again, is a long time not to say anything relevant to the game. This suggests he is consistently holding back thoughts, which more often than not, is alignment indicative. That is one of the three contributing factors that led me to believe Ecth was a Skaa, after all, and after seeing how active Arinian was in my game as a villager, it's easy to notice a difference. I will talk more about this later, however, because I bring it up in thread at one point, and he responds. That being said, in the Spy game that he mentions, he was a villager as well and, for most of the game, willing to follow my lead on things. He ended up turning against me in the end, but fortunately a coin flip landed in mine (and the villages) favor, so we still won. That, at least, is consistent with his play style. However, it is important to note that Arinian was the Sixth vote on Phatt, only 12 minutes after Headshot placed the Fifth. This puts him at the very edge of the "bandwagon zone" so it's possible Ecth told him to cement the village's decision by agreeing with me. Arinian's fifth post was him responding of a question Orlok asked him. Specifically, why he was suspicious of Stick (for not being suspicious). Arinian explains that every game before this one, he has found Stick suspicious off that bat, but for some reason he didn't now. In those games, Stick was also a villager, so he thinks it's possible the difference in his impression is due to her changing alignments. That, however, has changed since his initial comments on Stick, as recently she's made posts that have given him the same feeling he's had before. Ultimately he explains that he decided to vote for Phatt because he has had barely any interactions with him in the past. so he does not know if the suspicion he reads from Phatt's comments are usual to him, like with Stick. No new information here, really. I was going to suggest the possibility that his change in his read of Stick as because he's an eliminator this game, but because he says in the same post that the old feeling about Stick is back, it doesn't make much sense for him to reconsider his opinions of her. Unless he was afraid of Orlok making a larger deal about it (which I doubt, considering how little focus Orlok put on it), I believe this may point to him being a Noble, as why would a Skaa openly reevaluate their opinion of another player without the presentation of new evidence or a defense? Arinian's sixth post is nearly 18 hours after N1 begins. He responds to a player analysis post by Jondesu, in which he questions Arinian's suspicions of Stick and says he's slightly leaning towards Arinian being evil. He tries to thoroughly explain his thoughts on Stick by referencing AG3 and LG30, where Rae was considered suspicious on both games and yet was a villager. In the same post he also responds to my own mention of him in my large analysis post that night, in which I point out how less invovled he is compared to LG30, which made me debate whether or not he's holding back or building up. He says if I look back at other games he's been in, he's never been more active in those than he is in this one now, which is fair. That matches our interactions in QF21 (the Spy game) and what little I remember of AG3 and LG28. As for LG30, he says it was an exception because he wanted to try a different play style, but due to the events of that game (he was ruled out as suspicious by his fellow villagers) he was frustrated that his additional efforts only met him with more resistance, and his inevitable death. In this game he says he doesn't have many suspicious or any evidence to provide. He does, however, say he's got bad gut reads on three players. Rand, Mage and Silver. At the start of the next turn, we found out that Rand and Mage are both villagers. I also now have reason to believe that Silver is a Noble, as I would hope that being a Skaa would encourage him to, at the very least, continue placing actions. That makes a total of three Nobles that Arinian has bad gut reads on, which could indicate that he's a Skaa. On the other hand, the fact that he said this and both Rand and Mage were killed could mean that the Skaa were trying to frame him. I could see this going either way. Arinian's seventh post was 17 hours after D2 was post, and its a follow up to Drought's post about why I was still alive, as well as a response to me asking if he was Kelsier, and some more thoughts on the players. He points out that the reasons Drought listed regarding me aren't the only possibilities, but that he thinks it's a waste of time to talk about. He also comments on from what he's seen, lynching inactives barely ends up helping the village in the end, as it inevitably prevents them from gaining much information, and thus allows the eliminators more time to further their goals. He says that regardless of his alignment, Drought's activity doesn't change very much so he can't determine anything through that, but he does point out that his ideas are not helpful. In response to me he denies being Kelsier, as I expect anyone would. As for his thoughts on the remaining players, he remains suspicious of Stick but decides to ignore her, and replaces Rand, Mage and Silver with Joe, Orlok and maybe Drought. Joe because of him revealing to be a kandra, Orlok because he asked a lot of questions, which could be a way for an eliminator to disguise intent, as well as the fact no one seemed to be doubting him despite him pushing the lynch onto HH, who Arinian determined to be an easy target, and a bad gut read. The reasons for Drought were mentioned earlier, but he also expresses paranoia about the lurkers, Bart and Straw, as well as a bad gut read on Jon. Honestly, I'm a little put off that Arinian did not want to "waste time" trying to figure out why I was still alive. Considering the fact that in AG3, Wilson pulled off a WGG on Night One and was never looked at again (the eliminators ended up winning partly because of it) I think he's underestimating what can be learned discussing things like that. Regardless, I do agree with his stance on lynching inactives, especially in retrospect. Besides Len and myself, he's basically cast doubt on every single player at this point, which is starting to make me suspect that the two of them may be teammates, or that Arinian is a lone Skaa trying to seem like a villager by making everyone look bad. Arinian's eighth post comes, again, only after I ping him, asking for his opinions on HH, Orlok and myself. He points out that HH seems particularly nervous about the lynch as opposed to AG3 where he reacted calmly to the accusations on him. Coupled with Orlok pointing out that HH's comment about LGs, he decides to vote for him. In regards to Orlok, he takes my side in that Orloks points against me were unfounded. He does not the sense that maybe Orlok was too eager in accusing me, which makes him think Orlok wouldn't be a Skaa, because eliminators are usually more careful. In contrast, after I refuted Orlok's points, Arinian says it looks like he accepts the loss and tries to redirect attention back to HH. Before voting on HH, it's important to note that he says if HH turns out to be a Noble, Orlok can be attacked by a vigilante. Nothing Arinian says here isn't true. HH being more concerned about the lynch was likely a result of his role, as we now know. I also can't fault him for agreeing with HH's slip up about the pacing of Long Games, even if I bought his explanation. After reading his views on Orlok, I can't help but agree. However, it bothers me that he mentions a vigilante killing Orlok if HH turns out to be a villager. It gives me a sense that he knew the results of the lynch already and was hoping to take down another villager in the aftermath. This reminds me a lot of a comment Elenion made earlier about either one of Orlok and me just having to be Spiked. I challenged that by asking why Orlok and I can't possibly both be Nobles, and Elenion never answered, which gives me the same vibe I got from Ecth when he avoided my question about Phatt on Day One. Considering that, I would not be surprised if Arinian and Elenion were the remaining Skaa, and their end game plan was to kill me tonight and get Orlok killed by a vigilante, or organize a lynch on Orlok tomorrow without me to refute it. This theory is a bit of a stretch, but considering other information, seems possible. Arinian's ninth post is a response to something I mentioned about me trusting that Stick is not Ruin because my PM with her has kandra in the title. He says he has a PM with a player but the title doesn't have kandra in it, and is wondering if there was some kind of error somewhere. This is a reasonable subject to want clarification on regardless of alignment. If he is a Noble, he could just be wondering if he's in contact with Ruin. If he's a Skaa, he could have the intention of casting doubt on Stick or the player he's in contact with, in order to get another Noble killed. Honestly, it's hard to tell, so I won't think about it too much. Arinian's tenth and most recent post this game is a short one, responding to HH when he placed a vote on himself. He essentially just expresses frustration with the mindset. Like his previous post, not a lot of content and not very indicative of alignment. Normally I don't expect eliminators to make a big deal about this sort of thing, which is a part of the reason why I have Drought on my tentative trust list, but I'm not sure if I've mentioned that before this turn, so it's possible that Arinian picked up on that and is using it to nudge my read on him towards Noble. Unlike him, I have a lot more than ten posts in this game so I would much rather not go back and check to make sure, but I might do so anyway because it could be a helpful clue for me. Looking at the length of this I can only think about how Arinian is the player I intend to analyze with the least content so far. I have a feeling I'll be working on analysis far past my bed time today, as I want to leave the village with as much information as I can in case I die or get converted. Ah well. Break time!
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  18. LG31: Night 2 - Proclamation At sundown, obligators came to every square of Luthadel, and were sent out to every other town, to announce the same message. Hemalurgic Headshot was lynched! He was The Lord Ruler! >Orlok (1): Jondesu >Hemalurgic (7): Elenion, Amanuensis, Arinian, Droughtbringer, Hemalurgic, Orlok, Straw Night 2 has begun. You have 24 hours to send in actions. Player List
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  19. Day 1: Memories Footsteps on the dusty floor alerted Wurum to the present of someone else within the room. He raised his head from his book, and couldn't help but scowl a tad at the person who had appeared before him. “What do you want?” “Is that any way to greet a friend?” Khas asked, giving him a small smile. “We are friends still, aren't we?” “Hm,” Wurum grunted. “Aren't you meant to be hiding as well?” “Well, if we're both meant to be hiding, then we can just hide out in the same bolthole, can't we?” Khas said, turning to the shelves and picking up a few of the trinkets laid on them – A pair of metal bracelets, a dictionary, a hat, an earring – and examining them one by one as if remembering something. He came to the end of the shelf, and then noticed what was on the floor next to the shelving. “A mirror?” he asked, looking to Wurum curiously. “Can't think there's much use for a full-length mirror down here.” “Just because I'm hiding doesn't mean I can't have a certain amount of pride,” Wurum responded, leaning back in his chair and sighing. Khas was such a headache. “Besides, gives me a chance to practice my disguises.” “I suppose,” Khas laughed, picking up the tricorne hat from the shelf. A somewhat unique design, but it had a certain flair to it. “Threnody?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Maybe,” Wurum hedged, unable to remember. He couldn't honestly place the style these days; he felt older than he was, the double-life was starting to catch up with him. His visits to other worlds seemed like a lifetime ago. Certainly there were very few who he could discuss them with. And without that discussion, the memories faded. “Well, it goes nicely with the waistcoat. Scadrial does have some rather interesting fashion these days.” Khas looked at him. “I always feel people underestimate hats. Only really met one guy who understood them. Would you mind?” “What's mine is yours,” Wurum said with a dismissive wave of the hand. If he said no, Khas would probably take it anyway. “That's what I like about visiting you, you're such a generous guy.” Khas placed it on his head and cut a pose before the mirror. “How do I look?” “Flamboyant and annoying,” Wurum said, stifling an irritated sigh. “Then the image is complete!” Khas grinned, pulling the chair opposite Wurum from under the table and sitting down. He looked at the cover of the book Wurum was reading. “The Way of Kings?” he asked. “Seems like a pretty heavy book. I thought I was the one who preferred philosophical ramblings? Not to mention you'd get strung up as a heretic if anyone found you reading.” “If anyone else finds me here, then I have bigger problems than whether reading is a proper pursuit for an Alethi male,” Wurum said, placing a bookmark on his page and closing the tome. “I decided to read it, as Highprince Dalinar seems to think it's a very important book. I feel that we should know what one of the most powerful man in the world thinks.” “Hm, that's a good point,” Khas nodded. “Have you got any decent food?” “This is a safehouse,” Wurum pointed out. “There's soulcast food, with some spices to make it something close to edible. There's wine, at least. That's pretty decent.” He poured himself another glass and then gestured to a shelf where there were more glasses. Khas took one eagerly and placed it on the table, and Wurum filled it up as requested. “What do you want, anyway? You don't just come out of hiding to steal my hat, my food and my wine, and to question my reading material. What do you want?” Khas held the wine glass up to the candlelight before replying. He turned the glass this way and that, frowning a little at the fingerprints that had been left on it by previous users. The inside of the glass was clean, at least. “Khas?” Wurum prompted. “Ah, yes,” Khas smiled a little apologetically. “Sorry. I was just wondering, do you remember what happened a few years back?” “I hope you're going to be specific,” Wurum said, “and not expect me to remember the entire last few years.” “The events that occurred at Notemos,” Khas clarified. “You know, the whole Sons of Honour thing?” Wurum's face paled. “It was a massacre.” “Well, not quite,” Khas corrected. “It wasn't as though the entire town was destroyed. Damnation, we barely had a dozen agents in the area, if that. But yes, it did do a lot of damage to our control of that part of the world. And the aftershock certainly got a lot of others killed. But I'm curious, and since you were the one who sent the orders for the purge... What do you remember about it?” Wurum sighed and drained his glass again, pouring himself another immediately. He took a few breaths to collect his thoughts, felt his heart beat within his chest as the memories stirred. “The order came down from above that our agents in Notemos had been infiltrated,” he began, closing his eyes to aid his attempts to visualise events, “and that we were remove the infiltrators, no matter what the cost...” Day 1 has begun! It will end on Thursday 16th at 10 PM GMT. Remember to work with your other half above all else. Remember, you can only post if you are a Day Turn player, and if you forget, you can always check your Role PM or check the list below or in the rules post at the start of the game. There are 11 'players' in the game. Night Turn players, you will be informed during the Night Turn whether PMs are open or not. Notemos Town Hall Clock Player List
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  20. Hello, I am Witless. This is the first fandom online forum thingy that I've joined, so I'm not very sure how this whole thing works. I've read all of Sanderson's books (except for Mitosis, Firefight,and Calamity), and am currently annotating Elantris, WoK, and WoR. I still only kindofish get how the shards and everything fit together, but I'm excited to watch his world coalesce. Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians and The Stormlight Archive is where most of my knowledge and interest lies, so I'll probably be found on those boards. Quick question, how do you set a profile picture and a tagline? Thanks!
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  21. I really enjoyed reading this thread and wanted to add some thoughts and speculation. Brandon has said that the 17th shard forum people tend to 'overthink' his system. This led me to try some thesaurus research and this what I've noticed/perceived: Odium has an antonym to honor, and devotion has an antonym to odium. So for me the 3 are representative of 1 segment of adonalsium. Going down a rabbit-hole of synonyms, I found preservation and cultivation to share many results. And ruin was the antonym for preservation and very related to undoing/countering cultivation. This is another segment. Autonomy and dominion aren't quite antonyms but do differ greatly when described from the stand point of control. This is part of a segment but I feel we are missing a shard here. EDIT: Servitude is an antonym of both these shards so it may complete this segment. And I can see Servitude being a cosmere negative if there is not a shard balancing out its nature. For ambition, the closest I could come to a godly antonym was humility. Again I theorize this to be another part of a segment with a shard missing here. EDIT: Other possibilities being Charity(though that seems close to Endowment) and Hubris/Pride though that would possible make this segment more negative. For endowment, I figured the ulitmate God for the cosmere would have had a 'limitation' built into adonalsium and this would be endowment's antonym loosely. The thing I noticed when separating and organizing these shards was that each shard has a natural positive/negative leaning. And as I believe adonalsium was overall a good being, I think for every negative attribute there must be at least 2 positive attributes. So my shardic breakdown looks like this: Positive - Negative - Positive Honor - Odium - Devotion Preservation - Ruin - Cultivation Autonomy - Servitude - Dominion Humility/(Charity) - (Hubris) - Ambition Endowment - Limitation - ? And for the 16th shard, I feel it is both unrelated and necessary to the whole: Consciousness/Awareness If anyone would like to take a stab at completing my theory or completely tearing it down, I welcome you.
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  22. Repeat after me: "In Brandon We Trust"
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  23. You're trying to put your definition of powers in Brandon's mouth and assume that he means the same thing you do when there's no indication that's the case. What he's talking about in both those instances is where a manifestation of Investiture appears to act in a way that doesn't fit the Intent of the Shard whose power the individual is drawing on. Note too that one of those WoBs is over eight years old and dates to a time when the only works we had in the Cosmere were Elantris and Era 1 Mistborn. When he talks about getting power, he was asked about burning atium. As he's said repeatedly, the metals are a key that shapes Preservation's power but they aren't actually the powers themselves. That's a far more obvious interpretation than trying to establish a difference between 'Power' and 'Investiture' which Brandon has never once established, rather he refers to all the different manifestations of Shardic power as Investiture. And in the second WoB you cite, the person was trying to figure out how things like Steelpushing represent the idea of 'Preservation' and Brandon explained that the Intent of a Shard is related to how you get access to the magic in the first place but has no real influence on what you can do with the power once you're able to tap into it. In other words, you can use Allomancy (Preservation's power) to do things that aren't in tune with the Intent of the Shard, don't have to act autonomously whenever you're Mastering sand, you can blast things with Aon Daa without needing any devotional attachments... Actually Brandon is pretty much saying the opposite of your point in both of the WoBs you're citing, noting that the Shards can fuel all sorts of interactions in the one (reinforcing the actual point he was making that Intent=/=how the power must manifest) and in the other by pointing out that what could be done with one Shard's power could be done with another, just not as easily.
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  24. O.o That was fast Jondesu...how could you... Also, let this game and the previous one and the one before that be a testament to the fact that no matter how many times Aman tries to analyze it, my activity level has no correlation with my alignment.
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  25. Nah, I'll forgive you that. They really are tasty. No, let's not throw something that they might enjoy. Give me a few minutes to whip up some pork-pineapple-white-chocolate cookies and we can throw those.
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  26. Is....is it terrible that I snorted? Murphy really does/n't like you today..... I say we throw them at @Queen Elsa Steelheart's school admin. Serves them right.
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  27. And now, it's time for Adventures in Cooking with TwiLyghtSansSparkles! Today, we will be making homemade Junior Mints, with a TwiLyght twist! Step 1: Get a hankering for Junior Mints. Remember how well your homemade peanut butter cups turned out and decide to make them at home. Step 2: Read the recipe, and realize you have all the ingredients except for peppermint extract, which is easy enough to obtain. Step 3: Follow the instructions exactly….except for the part where it said "Put filling in refrigerator." Put the filling in the freezer instead and walk away. Step 4: Return to find that the filling has frozen solid. Say "No problem, I'll just let it defrost on the counter." Step 5: Forget about Bruce and his sworn oath to share in every food you make. After about ten minutes of him demanding extra attention, realize what he's trying to say and go into the kitchen. Put the filling in the microwave on defrost for one minute. Step 6: See that the filling is solid on the outside and melted on the inside. Run the beaters through it again and decide that it's helped. Step 7: Follow instructions exactly, save for the part that requires an ice cream scoop, because you're not the Queen of England and you sure as storms don't have her money. Use a half-tablespoon instead, freeze the result and melt the chocolate. Step 8: Try to coat the filling with chocolate. Watch the chocolate slide right off and puddle on the tinfoil. It's okay if you swear at this point. Decide to wait a few minutes and let the chocolate cool, and then try again. Step 9: Watch the cooled chocolate slide off the filling yet again. Step 10: Say "Storm it," toss the fillings into the chocolate, put it back on the double boiler, and melt it all together. Line a muffin tin with muffin cups. Step 11: Hope that Murphy and his infernal Laws don't touch your peppermint chocolate cup things, because seriously?
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  28. Heh. Fair enough. Multiple personality disorder it is. Wow, my brain is even more messed up than I had at first believed! And, now to continue the whole cycle analysis thingie. I probably won't do this again. Sart: RP's, and displays excellent taste in music. Jondesu: Ask Bart if he just publicly claimed that Aman was his partner. Notes that this seems unwise. Drake: Asks the sensible question; Could we hear something from Aman? Notes that this doesn't seem really like an Elim thing to do, yet ends up voting on Bart anyway. Len: Notes that people shouldn't get into a bandwagon just yet. (I can't believe what my eyes are seeing. ) Says Bart doesn't really read as Elim. Drake: Notes that Bart had better give him a good reason to retract his vote. Says that he is doing what Bart encouraged: To vote. Lopen: Responds to a bunch of things, says he normally would support a D1 lynch, but not today. Says Len's post may have been pointless, but, hey, Villagers make pointless posts too! Votes on HH, says he'd like to here more from certain people, including me, and says he's against lynching Bart for now. Doesn't like lynching newbies. (I agree.) HH: Responds more to Lopen, talks more statistics. Asks Jondesu if vote on him is 'Real' Stick: Says she's not super suspicious of Bart. Tells Bart he should elaborate and explain more. Thinks a tied lynch would be good, since the Elim's can kill two villagers anyway. (Not technically. This game is messing with my head.) Notes that she is indeed relevant. (But is she?) Jondesu: Takes his vote off of HH, notes that he'd be worried about losing Aman, but that the vote on HH is not real, and ends up voting on Bart anyway. Magestar: Makes an extremely long post about all previous posts, which would be recursive to talk about. Notes that he's not super suspicious of Bart, isn't sure if he's lying or not. Says more to come. Drake: Thinks it's improbable for Bart to lie about Aman being his partner. (I disagree? I mean, who's going to come out and say Aman is their partner? It would just put a target on their backs. Better to draw away the Elim's fire, or something.) Asks about the two elim kills per cycle. Takes his vote off of Bart, notes that he'd like to hear what Aman has to say, but wishes Bart would be more forthright and just explain. Wonders why he would vote on Len. Throws a vote on Lopen, to get his attention and hear what he has to say. Magestar: Responds to Drake and explains the two elim kills per cycle thing, which is really just a two village deaths per cycle thing. Drake: Says, no, not really. There are technically only 11 players. (Whatever. This is just semantics at this point. Jondesu: Takes vote off Bart; He's convinced. Jondesu notes that he doesn't know who to vote on now. (Don't vote on anyone. It's better that way.) Now, you didn't really think I'd describe this post? That'd just be odd.
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  29. Nah. Dalinar was on the cover of Kaladin's book, and Kaladin was on the cover of Shallan's book. I'd say it makes plenty of sense.
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  30. Intellectual equals? I mean, the guy knows a lot about a very specific trade (surgery). But I would absolutely not call Kaladin an intellectual.
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  31. That's not a thunderclast, that's clearly a Yugioh card
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  32. It seems to me like it's very similar to the pattern on Dalinar's (?) back on the first cover. Maybe that's just how Michael Whelan paints the Kholin glyph. A question: what is Jasnah doing with this golden wall thing? The description on Tor says she's rebuilding a wall with magic metal, but I don't recall seeing her do anything like it before. Is she soulcasting smoke into metal or something? Still, this cover is fantastic.
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  33. Thunderclasts are supposed to look like chasmfiends right? My money is on that giant being one of the things seen fighting in the storms at the end of WoR. Possibly an unmade? Edit: nope, Peter confirmed on reddit it was a Thunderclast, and that there are different variants of them.
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  34. That's from Dalinar's vision from the Purelake. The creature on the cover seems to be bigger.
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  35. My money is on thunder clast
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  36. "Dude, did you see what that thug just did to that guy?" "Yeah, he really went ham on him"
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  37. So I was sitting outside, because we were doing some work and the teacher said we could sit outside if we wanted to. I was concentrating on my work when I heard a strange noise. I turned to look and...my music teacher was half hiding behind a bush wriggling his fingers and making those noises. I think he may have been pretending to sneak up on me, but considering him he could have well been pretending to be a squid.
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  38. You put some serious thought into this, clearly, but I have a few bones to pick with it too. I was seriously befuddled by some of the things you have said in your post. ^ This for example. Of course it uses investiture as the fuel. What else would it use? Chulls? The other major problem with your post is your terrible naming sense. We already have names for all these things, and you are just adding confusion to the mix. What you call 'Powers' are just Shards. What you call 'Creation Magic' are just external manifestations of Investiture, and 'Investiture Magic' -aside from being a really confusing and bad name for it- are just internal manifestations of Investiture. Though the exact definition you present and the definitions that are understood for external/internal manifestations differ somewhat, they are more canon, and therefor more useful when asking questions and discussing things. Now on to comments on your actual points, and some clarifications of information I think you have wrong or that my speculation differs on. An example of an external manifestation, or what you call Creation Magic, would be Allomancy. You burn metal and cause a change external to you. This isn't, as you put it, using Investiture to Connect with a Shard. You are already Connected. What is really going on here is you allow (or force/get, depending on how you look at it) the power to flow through you through a focus, in this case a specific metal, and then you have a shaped Investiture in you that you can use to exert a changing 'force.' You aren't using Investiture to Connect, you use a physical focus. You have this a bit off. The Shard has x amount of Investiture available to it. When a piece of it it broken off, intentionally or otherwise, this is known as Splintering. The only real difference between, say, a spren and a Shard is the sheer quantity of Investiture they have. If you had a person and pumped a truly massive amount of Investiture into them, their mind expands and they Ascend. That is what happened to Vin with the mists. There are 3 important levels of Investiture. There are normal levels, where you may or may not have the right stuff to perform magic, but can't do much more. There is a higher level, where raw Investiture, or an Invested inanimate object, has enough Investiture available to it that it reaches a critical mass of the stuff. This level only matters if the Investiture is left out of the control of something sentient for long enough. If left alone, it will eventually develop sentience of its own. The third critical mass of Investiture is where you have enough that your mind expands, you lose your normal physical form, and you Ascend. There are outliers with this, like Wax and the Bands or awakening an object to sentience, where you temporarily move partially into a higher category. You touch on this in your next point, but you apparently haven't made the connection between the two. For your examples, you need to know that what matters for classification is if the fuel comes from an external source, like a Shard, or from the user's own soul. So I would say that we can't tell with Aviar, because we don't know enough about what the birds are doing. They could be tapping the local Pool for power, or the Pool could have basically infused them in a manner similar to Heightenings and granted them passive abilities. Transferring Breaths is a Command, so it would be a Creation magic under your definition, since you are morphing the soul of the recipient. A more pressing concern is that Breath is weird. It is basically the photon of the Investiture world. It exhibits properties of multiple forms of Investiture, much as photons have the properties of particles and waves, so Breath really defies any decent classification until Brandon gives us some better information. There is a long standing debate over whether Breath is kinetic Investiture or not, and I don't really want to get into that one with this thread. Returned are much the same as normal awakeners, but with the restriction that they can't use/transfer their one massive Breath without dying. It is stapling their Cognitive shadow to their body, so if they use it, their mind moves on to the Beyond. That is effectively the only difference between them and regular people. Well, that and their ability to manipulate their spiritweb (and therefor appearance) at will, probably via that Breath. The Old Magic is an external magic, because whatever the Nightwatcher is causes a change in your soul that is external to her. Think of her as just another person in this sense. If she were just some ridiculously powerful person, you would likely think of her differently. Use of the Mists is just using Preservation's power for your abilities, in this case Allomancy, without the need for a metal focus to filter it. The mists snapping people is just the mist causing extreme physical distress to snap people. That is the standard method in that day-- beat up the person and see what happens. Also, you failed to classify Hemalurgy, but it is also a bit strange, and we don't know if it actually channels any of Ruin's power directly to make a spike. It does increase your Connection to Ruin, though, so there is that. For Sel, this is where I most heavily disagree with you. You say the ChayShan must be internal when that doesn't really make sense in the context the planet is giving us. ALL of the powers on Sel come from the same system. The one deft thing you said in your post is that they are balkanized-- I really liked that way of putting it. I don't want to into a TON of detail, but here are my suspicions for Sel. The first thing to know is that you can use Aons outside Elantris, but they are much, much weaker, as we saw when Raoden teleported away. Elantris is just a massive Aon that buffs up Elantrian's power so that they are truly useful. You say the ChayShan is internal, but Dakhor monks are probably extremely similar. Dakhor monks and the Listeners appear to do something similar. They use an external Investiture to change their physical form and physical/mental properties. Be it the Dor or a spren, they seem to do something with a similar mechanic. Performing the ChayShan is probably most similar to burning pewter with a measure of either normal sense heightening to the point of echolocation or some sort of lifesense that lets them fight with their eyes closed. Regardless, they would pretty much certainly be channeling power from the Dor to perform it. Otherwise, it would just be a Feruchemy variant and not a Selish magic. The only reasonable explanation for the potions is that they have to be brewed in Forton's homeland. That is the location that potion masters can connect their brews to the Dor to allow them to infuse the potion with actual power. Once the potion is brewed, it is already Invested, so drinking it is no longer location dependent, hence the potion drunk by Hrathen and Sarene work on them. Overall a very good post, just mind that the Powers of Creation are Investiture directed by those with truly massive power that defies the protective barriers provided mortals that channel how the Investiture is used. This allows them to do as they will with the power. Those holding the power of the Well reached that level of Investiture, but other than that, you really need to perform a normal Ascension to reach that level. Hence, what you call the Powers are effectively just Shards. I would be happy to also provide my feedback for your theory in addition to those you mentioned above if you just shoot me a PM with your draft of it.
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  39. I found it: http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/tom/brandonsanderson/brandon-sanderson-book-signing-report-visit-to-r229
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  40. Enjoy the experience! He's a really nice guy. The newest Legend of Zelda game. They really kicked it up a few levels with this one; the game is fantastic.
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  41. Could this be a strider in the storm?
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  42. 1 like
  43. Are you the reincarnation of the beloved Harambe?
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  44. PG1 (minor) "worried that some hidden cougar" "ssaid to descend the rope if something went wrong" "The cooing of something nearby" PG2 "Then something thudded in the brush" "and when he did, something shrieked in the woods" "Something pushed through the brush" (pg 2/3 in my version) PG3 "Get down and hide her somewhere safe,” someone whispered" (double!) PG4 "Someone scuffed their boot nearby" PG5 "She whispered something" "footfall of someone approaching" "Then something else moved " "and someone called out" "realization snapped something inside " "something pushed through the brush" PG6 is free of them, but that's ONE page out of 6 so far. (and 5 more than makes up for it) PG7 "Something thudded into the ground" PG8 "gripped something dry" "something bit into the top " "Something had woken him" PG9 "something soft and spongy" "something sharp poking into his thigh" "someone shrieked into the night" "something clicked in Petro's head" PG10 "something like clanging metal" "something in eyes popped" "dark to some so faint" (it's not a some-whatsit, but by this point, I've become so sensitized to the word, that even minor ones like this stick out) PGs 11 & 12 are clear PG13 "heard someone cry out"
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  45. In the audio books it is pronounced Smeh-dree.
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  46. - "GUILTY!" The man stood in the cyclone created by Stormblessed. The giant form of the Unmade towered before him and the Initiates, yet he felt like he could take on the world. The man heard a small, soft voice which only he could hear. "Hello? Hello?" "Vis?" the man responded. He did not know where it came from, yet it sounded...right, somehow. "A name..." the voice said, "spren do not have names." "I was once nameless too," the man said, "but no longer. Now that I am free from this--" he took off his broken ring and threw it aside "--I am again my own man. I again have..." "A name..." the voice repeated. "You know, I used to have my own name, Vis. I used to be a person who I am no longer." "The name you used to have...the person you used to be... "There is power in a name. Identity in a name." "I...do not understand, Vis." "It is time for you to reclaim your power. Take up thyself, take up thy sword, take up thy name... "Ceol." Ceol reached into his weapon pouch and, seemingly instinctively, chose a single coin. He raised it over his head and it transformed, in a brilliant explosion of light, into a sword: a great claymore. He held it instinctively, testing its perfect weight. Years of training and memories of his former life rushed back to him. This was the weapon he had always known. This was the weapon his father had always used, the weapon his father had always trained him in. This was Ceol's weapon. At last, Ceol had returned.
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  47. Something is...wrong. Hithon frowned as he sat on top of a small plank of wood that he had conjured from the beads. Shadesmar. It was as cold as ever, but his Stormlight was ample, having borrowed some infused spheres from some of the other Initiates before diving into this realm again. Anorien's presence had greeted him, and she had seemed...agitated. "What do you mean?" He prodded. I...do not know. I feel it. Something is wrong with the world, and it is approaching. "Anorien, I don't understand." Him. he whom you humans call...Stormfather. He is agitated, and his distress sends waves through Shadesmar. It is worrying, to know that the Stormfather is afraid. The Stormfather? Afraid? "The Voidbringers?" Hithon ventured. The Listerners. They of many forms. They whom we do not bond. They are summoning the Stormfather's...opposite. It...it comes. The Stormfather's....opposite? All of a sudden, the awful realization slammed into Hithon. The stories of the Highstorm that blew the wrong way. The storm that had begun after Highprince Kholin had ventured into the heart of the plains to fight the Voidbringers. What they called the Everstorm. It was coming? "Anorien. Are you sure?" Anorien buzzed in frustration. Sure. He frowned. "How much longer do we have?" Time...no time. It comes soon. Fast. Hithon muttered a curse. Of course. Of course. Storms!!! He had to warn his companions. Kholin. Everyone else. He had been about to thrust himself from Shadesmar when a thought stopped him. The Voidbringers. The Voidbringers were still out there. They would be in no condition to listen to him. And so it was that Hithon found himself holding a bead very tightly, seeing the soul of a Parshendi blade. Holding it to his forehead, he spoke to it, as Anor acted as his translator. The sword agreed to change. And in the physical realm, a Parshendi warrior who had been about to finish off a soldier watched in bafflement as his sword became smoke and drifted way into the night sky. Hithon allowed himself a small smile, grabbing the souls of a few other weapons. Now this was where he felt comfortable. Time to wreck some havoc from the shadows. You know what annoys me about this game so far? That we can't have an actual lynch. Yes, we can imprison people, but without executing them to find their alignments, it's basically a no lynch! And last cycle we didn't get to execute either prisoner. We have what, 15 free people left, and of those, 7 who are reliably active. If I'm correct, we will need 11 people for a pardon. I think we have to stop thinking about pardons now, because unless we can get the inactives back, there is no way we can achieve that. Even for an execution, we will need around 8 votes, but with the help of the Willshaper, we should be able to achieve that. Now, more than ever, it is important that we decide to execute unanimously. And we should execute, else the village might as well have no lynch in the first place. Right, let's talk about last cycle's lynch patterns. Early on, Jondesu suggested lynching JUQ. Lopen came on and accused Arin instead for a post of his, a vote which Jondesu jumped on. Arin was annoyed, but voted on Ecth instead. Rand followed on the Arin bandwagon. Then I expressed suspicion on Alv and voted on him, a vote that was very quickly jumped on in the span of six hours. In that time, Lopen, Mage, Arin and Rand all piled on the Alvron vote. While I am genuinely suspicious of Alvron, the speed in which the bandwagon piled up is making me suspect some sort of coordination. After this, Lopen has a change of heart after talking to Alv in PMs, and decides to switch back to Arin, and Ecth gets on and votes for Arin. So...firstly, does Alv have a supernatural ability to escape lynches or something? This is what, the fourth time he's been up for lynch and escaped? So...let's go on two assumptions here, and drawing different conclusions. If Arinian is an eliminator, Lopen and Ecth become more cleared for ensuring his lynch. Also, if Arin is evil, in which case those who bandwagoned on Alv when he emerged as an alternative target become suspicious, namely Lopen, Mage, Arin and Rand. And possibly me, I suppose, for suggesting the altenrative lynch and diverting attention. If Arin turns out to be village, then I will scream I told you so to the Stormfather and we can just finish Alv before he gets the chance to escape yet again. If Arin turns out to be village, Lopen becomes suspicious for his switch back, and those who voted on Alv become slightly more cleared? With that in mind, I shall vote to execute Arin, hoping to gain information from his death. I'll cast an imprisonment vote tomorrow.
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  48. 1 like
  49. *loses Kaladin in a crowd* Me: *uses hand as a megaphone* Me: AMARAM IS THE MOST HONORABLE MAN THERE IS. *Literally hears teeth grinding and feels rage radiating from one direction* Me: There he is.
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